As I had an early morning flight, I didn’t really have the opportunity to go back into central Tirana again, so I went to stay at the Side Airport Hotel. This was only around a ten minute walk from the airport of which half of that was working out how to get around the security gates.
Walking past the cargo centre. Does travel get any more exciting than this?
There was an upbeat welcome at the reception desk and I was told that I could have a free lift to the airport in the morning. I did mention that I had an early flight, but they were determined to be helpful. The room was clean, functional and they had made an effort with the towel presentation. I’m not too concerned if a hotel puts the towels in a pile, but I suppose it shows attention to detail.
The bathroom was clean and tidy, it all felt decent value for money. There were also no noise issues, either internally or externally. I could hear the airport, since it was around 50 metres away, but I like background noise like that.
The view from the room. Although I couldn’t see anything priced, there’s a shop and bar in the hotel, both of a reasonable size.
I would have been happy walking to the airport at 03:00 given that it was so close, but they wanted to drive me as part of the hotel’s offering, so I accepted.
Two minutes later I was safely at the airport and I realised that there is another way in, so the hotel was actually nearer than I thought. I’d certainly return to this hotel if I needed to stay near to the hotel overnight, I thought it was very reasonably priced, it was clean and modern.